Goa
Goa Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Contents
- 55 game tiles (27 with back A, 27 with back B, and 1 starting player tile with a flag)
- 18 colony tiles (later called colonies) (5 Quilon, 4 Cochin, 5 Madras, and 4 Calicut)
- 18 colonist cards (with the values 1 and 3)
- 17 ship cards (with the values 1 and 3)
- 10 additional action cards
- 45 ducat cards (with the values 1, 2, 5, and 10)
- 30 expedition cards
- 4 supply boards (in the colors red, blue, green, and yellow)
- 4 development boards (in the colors red, blue, green, and yellow)
- 20 auction markers (with numbers 1-5 in the colors red, blue, green, and yellow)
- 20 success markers (gray)
- 50 spice sacks (later called spices): ginger, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
- 1 game board
Goal
The player with the most victory points wins the game. Players earn victory points for progress on their development boards, for colonies, for special tiles, for the player with the most money, and for expedition cards, which the players have in their hands at the end of the game.
Preparation
- Place the game board in the middle of the table.
- Sort the game tiles by their back sides (A & B). Shuffle the 27 A game tiles face down and place them face up randomly on the 5 x 5 grid on the game board (= the playing area). Place the 2 unused A game tiles face down without looking at them back in the box. The B game tiles are used in part B of the game; place them in the box for now.
- Place the ship cards, colonist cards, ducat cards, and additional action cards on the appropriate spaces on the game board. Players may make change with the ducat, ship, and colonist cards at any time. For example, if a player has only a 3 ship card and needs to pay 2 ships, he will get 1 ship in change.
- Shuffle the expedition cards and place them face down on the game board.
- Sort the colony tiles by name and place them face up on the game board.
- Place the spice sacks as a supply next to the game board.
- Spices, colonists, and ships are not pieces limited. If you run out, use some other tokens to represent them.
- Each player selects a color and takes the supply board, development board, and the auction markers in that color, placing the auction markers on the supply board. With 4 players, use all 5 auction markers, with 3 players, use only the 1-4 auction markers, and with 2 players, use only the 1-3 auction markers. Place the unused markers back in the box.
- Each player places 5 gray success markers in the top row of his development board.
- Each player takes cards worth 4 ships and 2 colonists.
- The youngest player draws the top-most expedition card and the others follow in clockwise order until a player turns a card with a tiger symbol. This player is the starting player. He takes the flag and 7 ducats. The other players each take 10 ducats. Players keep their money secret during the game. The oldest player takes the role of the banker. Players place the expedition cards they turned over face up on the discard stack.
Example: the figure shows the start of a game of GOA. In the lower part is the play area for red, who is not the starting player. The example shows: the discard places for the game tiles, the colonies in face up stacks, the playing area, the places for the card supplies (additional action, colonists, ships, discard space for expedition cards), the supply for the spices, the bank, the chosen starting position of the starting player, and the expedition cards. The starting player's initial holdings shown are 4 ships, 2 colonists, and 10 ducats, along with a supply board with the auction markers and a development board with the success markers.
Playing the Game
The game is split into two parts: part A and part B. Each part runs for 4 rounds. At the end of part A, players remove the remaining game tiles from the playing area and place 25 random B game tiles on the playing area, discarding the 2 not used as before. Then, the players start part B. At the end of part B, the game ends and players tally their victory points.
Each round runs as follows:
- Place auction markers
- Tile auctions
- Player actions
1. Place Auction Markers
The player with the flag begins. He places the flag on the game board and his number 1 auction marker on top of it. Then, the next player, in clockwise order, places his number 2 auction marker on a tile in the playing area. He must place his auction marker on a tile adjacent to or diagonal to the flag. The next player, in clockwise order, places his number 3 auction marker on an empty tile (without an auction marker on it) adjacent to or diagonal to the number 2 auction marker. The players continue in this way, ending with the starting player placing his highest numbered auction marker adjacent to or diagonal to the last player's auction marker. Players may not place auction markers on top of auction markers. The auction markers form a increasing number trail (1-2-3-4-5 with 4 players, 1-2-3-4 with 3 players, and 1-2-3 with 2 players).
The starting player places the flag on any empty space in the playing area or on a space at the edge of the playing area adjacent to a space in the playing area. The player must place the flag so there is at least one space with a tile orthogonally adjacent to the flag (either horizontally or vertically; diagonally is not sufficient). On one of these spaces, or on a space diagonal to the space, the next player will place his number 2 auction marker.
If a player, on his turn to place an auction marker, cannot do so because there are no empty game tiles adjacent to or diagonal to the previously placed auction marker, he chooses any empty game tile (without an auction marker on it) in the playing area and places his auction marker on it. The following players place their auction markers using this space as the new base. Thus, the number trail is broken, and may be broken more than once if subsequent players cannot place auction markers for the same reason.
2. Tile Auctions
First, the flag is auctioned. To get the auction started, the owner of the flag (the starting player and auctioneer) bids 0 for the flag. Next, each player, in clockwise order, may bid once or pass. To bid, a player must offer a bid higher than the previous bid. The auctioneer has the last chance to bid or pass.
The highest bidder takes the flag, 1 additional action card, and pays the bid amount to the auctioneer. If the auctioneer makes the highest bid, he keeps the flag, takes 1 additional action card, and pays the bid amount to the bank. If all players pass and the highest bid is 0, the auctioneer keeps the flag for free. The auctioneer takes his number 1 auction marker back, placing it on his supply board.
Then, the next player takes his turn as auctioneer and auctions the tile under his number 2 auction marker. This auction runs like the flag auction with the auctioneer starting the auction at 0, each other player bidding higher or passing, and ending with the auctioneer making the last bid or passing. The highest bidder pays the auctioneer (or the bank, if the auctioneer is highest) and takes the game tile. The auctioneer takes back his auction marker, placing it on his supply board. The auctions continue, in clockwise order, until all tiles with auction markers have been auctioned.
The various tiles are described under "Description of the Tiles" below.
3. Player Actions
Each player has 3 actions. The starting player (the player with the flag) takes his first action. Next, the other players take their first actions in clockwise order. Then, the starting player takes his second action and the other players take theirs in clockwise order. Finally, all players take their third actions, in clockwise order beginning with the starting player.
To make it easier to keep track of the 3 sets of actions: after the starting player takes his first action, he places any spice sack from the supply on the flag. After his second action, he places a second spice sack on his flag and after his third action, he places a third spice sack.
The following actions are possible:
- Progress on the development board
- Build ships
- Harvest
- Taxes
- Expedition
- Found colony
1. Progress on the Development Board
When a player chooses the progress action, he moves one success marker on his development board down one space to the row below. To do so, the player must spend spices and ships. The number of ships and number and kind of spice sacks required is shown in the area between the rows on the development board. In these areas are figures of 1, 2, 3, or 4 spice sacks. To move the success marker, the player must give up all the spice sacks shown. For each spice sack, the player must give up a ship. The player takes the required spices from his plantations and/or colonies, along with the required number of ships from his play area, and returns them to the appropriate supplies.
Example: red wants to move his success marker in the taxes column from row 2 to row 3. He takes 1 pepper, 1 cinnamon, and 2 ships from his play area and puts them back in the supply to pay for the move.
The progress of the success markers on the development board has 2 important effects:
- at the end of the game, players earn victory points for their success markers - the lower on the board, the more points
- by moving success markers, players can increase the resources they receive or may use for other actions
2. Build Ships
When a player chooses the build ships action, he takes ships from the supply. The number of ships he takes is shown by the position of his marker in the ship column.
Example: his marker is in the second row in the ship column. The player takes 2 ships from the supply when he chooses the build ships action.
3. Harvest
When a player chooses the harvest action, he takes spices from the supply and places them on the empty fields on his plantations and/or colonies. The number of spice sacks he takes is shown by the position of his marker in the spice column. When a player's harvest is greater than the number of empty fields on his plantations/colonies, he takes only what he has room for.
Example: the player takes 4 spice sacks from the supply.
4. Taxes
When a player chooses the taxes action, he takes ducats from the supply. The number of ducats he takes is shown by the position of his marker in the ducat column.
Example: the player takes 6 ducats from the bank.
5. Expedition
When a player chooses the expedition action, he takes expedition cards from the supply. The number of expedition cards he takes is shown by the position of his marker in the expedition column. The left number is the number of cards he can take, the right number is the player's expedition card limit. A player may never have more cards than this, even for a moment!
Example 1: the player has 1 expedition card in his hand and his marker is in the 4th row of the expedition column. He takes 2 expedition cards and adds them to his hand, giving him 3 cards in his hand. He is under the hand limit and keeps all 3 cards.
Example 2: the player has 3 expedition cards in his hand and his marker is in the 4th row of the expedition column. As his limit is 4 and he can draw 2 cards, he may draw 1 card, adding it to his hand. He may also choose to use 1 expedition card (if he is allowed to) or discard 1 card and then draw 2 cards, adding them to his hand.
When a player chooses build ships, harvest, taxes, or expedition, he takes ships, spices, money, or expedition cards, placing them in his hand or on his supply board. Players do not found colonies in this way (see below). There is no colonist action, whereby a player may acquire colonist cards. Instead, a player may acquire colonist cards by buying a colonist tile in a tile auction.
What is the meaning of the colonist column on the development board? The number is the number of colonists a player must recruit when he chooses the found colony action.
6. Found Colony
When a player chooses the found colony action, he attempts to found 1 colony. To found a colony, he must recruit a specific number of colonists: 6 colonists for Quilon, 8 colonists for Cochin, 10 colonists for Madras, and 12 colonists for Calicut.
How does a player found a colony?
- First, the player names the colony (one of the 4 colony names). He may not choose a colony that he has already founded. For example, if the player has already founded a Madras colony, he may not found another Madras colony.
- Now, he tries to recruit colonists. He recruits colonists in 3 ways:
- The colonists that he has on his development board.
- The colonists that run to join him: he draws 2 expedition cards from the stack and counts the number of colonists shown on those 2 cards.
- If the above give him enough colonists, he is done. If he does not have enough colonists with the above, he must make up the difference by playing colonist cards from his hand.
Example: the player names Madras (a). He has 3 colonists on his development board (b). He draws 2 expedition cards and gets cards with 2 and 3 colonists (c). This brings him a total of 8 colonists. As he named Madras, he needs 10 colonists and plays 2 colonist cards from his hand (d). Now he has the 10 colonists needed and, thus, founds the Madras colony by placing a Madras tile on his supply board.
When a player founds a colony, he places the colony tile on the corresponding empty space on the lower row of his supply board. There are 5 different tiles with different spice combinations for each of the Quilon and Madras colonies. When founding one of these colonies, the player may choose from among the colony tiles remaining in the stack. The colony tiles for Cochin and Calicut are all alike. The player immediately fills the spice fields of the newly founded colony with spices from the spice supply. With Quilon and Madras, the player can choose between 2 spices. With Cochin and Calicut, the player can choose between all 5 spices.
- Quilon: 1 spice — ginger or cinnamon
- Cochin: 1 of any spice
- Madras: 2 spices — pepper and/or nutmeg
- Calicut: 2 of any spice
An attempt to found a colony may fail. This can happen if the player is unable to recruit the required number of colonists, including using cards from his hand. It is also possible for a player to have enough colonist cards in his hand to found the colony, but he decides he does not want to use the number required. In both cases, the colony is not founded, and the player takes 1 colonist card from the supply instead. The player discards any expedition cards he drew for founding a colony.
End of a Round
After all players have all taken 3 actions, they can or must play additional action cards, depending on how many they have. Beginning with the starting player and continuing clockwise around the table, each player:
- On his turn, may play 1 additional action card and take an additional action.
- Pass, but then cannot later in this round play an additional action card.
- Each player may keep only 1 additional action card. Thus, a player with more than 1 additional action card, must play, at least, all but 1 of those he has.
The players put the additional action cards they use back in the supply.
The player actions end when all players pass in player order. This ends the round.
Game End
The game ends after the fourth round of part B. Then, the players score their victory points. The player with the most victory points is the winner. If two or more players tie with the most, the player among them with the most money is the winner.
The Scoring
Victory points (VP) for the positions of the success markers
- 1st row: 0 VP
- 2nd row: 1 VP
- 3rd row: 3 VP
- 4th row: 6 VP
- 5th row: 10 VP
Scoring example: Red earns the following VP for his success markers — build ships 6 VP, harvest 10 VP, taxes 3 VP, expedition 6 VP, found colony 6 VP = 31 VP.
Victory points for the number of colonies the player has founded
- 1 colony: 1 VP
- 2 colonies: 3 VP
- 3 colonies: 6 VP
- 4 colonies: 10 VP
Scoring example: Red founded 2 colonies = 3 VP.
Victory points for expedition cards (for more on expedition cards, see "The Expedition Cards" below)
- 1 symbol: 1 VP
- 2 like symbols: 3 VP
- 3 like symbols: 6 VP
- 4 like symbols: 10 VP
- 5 like symbols: 15 VP
- 6 like symbols: 20 VP
Scoring example: Red earns the following VP — 1 tiger symbol 1 VP, 2 palm symbols 3 VP = 4 VP.
Victory points for the player with the most money
The player with the most money earns 3 victory points. If several players tie with the most money, they each earn 3 VP.
Scoring example: We assume Red has the most money = 3 VP.
Victory points for the single plantations
- per plantation: 1 VP
Scoring example: Red has one single plantation = 1 VP.
Victory points for the tile "Duty"
- When fulfilled: 4 VP
Scoring example: Red does not have it = 0 VP.
Victory points for the tile "Mission"
- Per tile, 2 or 3 VP
Scoring example: Red has no missions = 0 VP. Red has in total 42 VP.
The Expedition Cards
All expedition cards have three parts. The upper part shows the use of the card during the game. The lower left part shows 1, 2, or 3 colonists and the lower right part shows an island with a symbol to be used in scoring at game end. The players can play expedition cards during the game (placing them on the discard stack) or collect them for scoring at game end (note: hand limit!). Of course, players can do a bit of both.
There are three ways for a player to get expedition cards:
- He chooses the expedition action and takes expedition cards in the number shown on his development board.
- He buys an expedition tile and takes 2 or 3 expedition cards.
- He is the first player to move his success marker to the second row from the bottom in a column. He takes 1 expedition card. He is the first player to move his success marker to the bottom row in a column. He takes 1 expedition card (see also "Special Cases Regarding Movement of Success Markers" below).
Use of the expedition cards during the game:
Either before, during, or after an action (also additional action), a player may play exactly 1 expedition card. When exactly can a card be played? To understand this, a player must know the 2 different kinds of cards:
- Expedition cards that change a specific action (these cards have an "A" in the upper corners): a player can play one such card when he takes the corresponding action.
- Expedition cards that are not related to a specific action: a player can play such a card any time during his action turn, either before, during, or after the action he takes.
The expedition cards and their two possible uses during the game:
Expedition cards not related to a specific action:
- The player takes 2 ships.
- The player takes 2 colonists.
- The player takes 5 ducats.
- The player takes up to 2 spice sacks of his choice and places them on the appropriate empty spaces in his plantation and/or colonies.
- The player returns any number of his spice sacks to the supply and takes 3 ducats per spice returned from the bank.
Expedition cards that change an action:
- Harvest action: instead of taking spices, the player takes a mixture of ships, colonists, and/or spices.
- Found colony action: the player draws 1 extra expedition card to add to his colonist recruiting total.
- Progress action: the player need only spend the necessary ships to move his success marker to the next row. He need not spend the required spices.
- Progress action: the player need only spend the necessary spices to move his success marker to the next row. He need not spend the required ships.
- Progress action: the player pays ducats instead of ships and spices to move one of his success markers down 1 row. The number of ducats needed is shown on the card. He may only move 1 marker 1 row!
Important note: the use of an expedition card is no action! A player may discard any number of expedition cards at any time in the game!
Use of expedition cards for the scoring:
The players earn victory points for expedition cards that they hold in their hands at the end of the game. The number of victory points corresponds to the number of expedition cards with the same symbols on the lower right of the cards.
The following 5 symbols appear on expedition cards 6 times each: tiger, fish, palm, shell, statue.
Description of the Tiles
The tiles and their uses (including when they can be used in the game and which part, A or B, they belong to):
Flag — The player, who buys the "flag", places it face up in his play area and takes an additional action card. He is the starting player.
Plantation (A+B) — The player who builds a plantation places it face up on an empty space in the upper row of his supply board. Plantations have 1-3 fields for spices, that the player fills with the appropriate spices from the supply. If the player already has 4 plantations on his supply board, he must discard one of these 4 plantations before placing the 5th one. The player also discards to the supply any spices on the discarded plantation. If the plantation to be discarded has only 1 field for spice, the player keeps the plantation face down in his play area. These plantations are worth 1 victory point during scoring just as those still face up on the supply boards.
Mission (B) — The player places the "Mission" tile face down in his play area. At game end, the player scores 2 or 3 victory points for the tile.
Swap (B) — The player places the "Swap" tile face up in his play area. In one of his later action turns, the player may take any 1 tile from the playing area and place it face up in his play area, placing his "Swap" tile in its place on the playing area. He may use the tile he took using the "Swap" tile now or later in the normal course of his play. The "Swap" tile he returned to the playing area may be later auctioned in the normal course of play.
For the following 6 tiles, the player immediately takes the appropriate resources. Afterwards, the player discards the tiles on the A or B discard stack.
Ships (A+B) — The player takes 4 ships.
Colonists (A+B) — The player takes 4 colonists.
Ships/colonists (A+B) — The player takes either 3 colonists or 3 ships, but not a combination of the two.
Settlement (A+B) — The player takes 1 ship, 1 additional action card, and 1 colonist.
Additional action (A+B) — The player takes 2 additional action cards.
Expeditions (A+B) — The player takes 2 or 3 expedition cards. He takes them even if they put him over his hand limit. If he later uses the expedition action, he must observe his hand limit and discard any expedition cards over his hand limit.
For all the following tiles, the player puts the tile face up in his play area and plays it either before, during, or after one of his action turns. The player may play any of the first 4 tiles in the following action turns, but only once per round. When he uses such a tile, he turns it over and cannot use it again in that round. At the beginning of the next round, players turn these tiles face up to make them again available for use.
Ship (A) — The player takes 1 ship.
Colonist (A) — The player takes 1 colonist.
Spice (A) — The player takes 1 spice of his choice, placing it on an appropriate spice field on his supply board. The player must have an empty space for the spice on his plantations or colonies.
Ducats (A) — The player takes 4 ducats from the bank.
The player may use each of the next 5 tiles only once in the entire game. Once used, the player discards the tile on the appropriate (A or B) discard stack (exception "Duty").
Espionage (B) — The player chooses an opponent and takes either ships, spices, ducats, or colonists (when founding a colony) based on the position of that player's success marker in the corresponding column of that player's development board. The player cannot use espionage to take expedition cards.
Extra harvest (B) — The player completely fills up to 3 of his plantations and/or colonies with the appropriate spices.
Re-supply (B) — The player draws 2 expedition cards and adds the colonist numbers on the two cards together. He takes that total in either spices, colonists, or ships. He decides which after drawing the cards and seeing the total. Afterwards, the player discards the two expedition cards.
Vice-king (B) — The player moves the highest success marker on his development board 1 row down for no cost. If he has several markers tied for highest, he may choose which one among them to move.
Duty (A+B) — The player can earn 4 victory points by taking any 6 spice sacks from his supply board and placing them immediately in the supply. Then, the player turns the tile face down until scoring, when he turns it face up to score the 4 victory points.
Important note: the use of a tile is not an action!
Special Cases Regarding Movement of Success Markers
The first player to reach the last or second to the last row in any column of the development board, draws 1 expedition card, adding it to his hand, even when it puts him over his hand limit. If he later uses the expedition action, he must again obey his hand limit.
Example: red is the first to reach the second to the last row in the ship column and draws 1 expedition card. Blue is the first to reach the last row in the harvest column and draws 1 expedition card.
When any player has at least all his success markers in at least the second row of his development board, he takes 1 additional action card. The same happens when a player has all his success markers in at least the 3rd, 4th, or 5th row.
Example: red chooses the progress action and moves his marker in the harvest column, giving him all 5 markers in the 2nd row or lower. He immediately draws an additional action card.
Rule Variant
After preparation and before beginning the game, each player, starting with the starting player and continuing clockwise around the table, moves 2 of his success markers to the second row on his development board or takes 10 ducats from the bank.
Example for the Play of a Complete Round
1. Place Auction Markers
Yellow "wins" the flag in preparation and begins by placing the flag at the edge of the playing area as shown. She then places her number 1 auction marker on the flag. Red is next and places his number 2 diagonally on the colonists tile. Green places his number 3 auction marker on the cloves plantation tile, blue places her number 4 auction marker on the ginger plantation tile, and yellow places her number 5 auction marker on the colonist tile.
2. Tile Auctions
After all auction markers have been placed, the flag is auctioned.
Auctioneer yellow says, "0", red bids, "4 ducats", green passes, and blue bids, "6 ducats". With the last bid, yellow passes and takes 6 ducats from blue (the high bidder). Blue takes the flag, places it in her play area, and takes 1 additional action card. In this way, the remaining 4 tiles are auctioned.
After the auctions, each player has:
- I blue bought: the flag (and got an additional action card); the colonist
- II yellow bought: the cloves plantation and placed it on her supply board with 2 cloves
- III red bought: the colonists and immediately traded it for colonist cards
- IV green bought: the ginger plantation and placed it on his supply board with 1 ginger
3. Player Actions
1st action of each player (blue as owner of the flag, begins)
Blue: found colony. First (before her action): blue owns the colonist tile. This enables her, at any time, once in each round (not with each action!), to take 1 colonist card. She does this now and then takes found colony as her action:
- She names Quilon.
- She has 0 colonists on her development board.
- She draws 2 expedition cards.
- She has 3 colonist cards in her hand.
This gives her a total of 5 colonists, but to found Quilon she needs 6 colonists. Thus, she fails to found Quilon. She keeps her 3 colonist cards and takes 1 colonist card because she failed to found Quilon.
Yellow: progress in the colonist column. To move her marker to the next row, she must give up 1 clove and 1 ship: put in the supply, then move marker.
Red: found colony.
- He names Cochin (and needs 8 colonists).
- He has 0 colonists on his development board.
- He draws 2 expedition cards.
- He has 6 colonist cards in his hand.
Red gives up one of his 3 colonist cards, giving him a total of 8 colonists. He has, therefore, founded a Cochin colony and places a Cochin colony tile (all Cochin tiles are alike) on his supply board. He then may place any spice on the colony and chooses cinnamon, placing it there.
Green: expedition. He may draw 1 expedition card and have 1 expedition card in his hand. He draws this card.
2nd action of each player
Blue: found colony. Again she names Quilon. This time the founding succeeds. She chooses the Quilon colony with the pepper/nutmeg combination and places 1 nutmeg on it.
Yellow: found colony. She names Quilon. The founding is successful. She chooses the Quilon colony with the ginger/cinnamon combination and places 1 ginger on it.
Red: expedition. He may draw 1 expedition card and have 1 expedition card in his hand. He draws this card.
Green: progress in the ship column. To move his marker to the next row, he must give up 1 ginger and 1 ship: put in the supply, then move marker.
3rd action of each player
Blue: taxes. She takes 4 ducats from the bank.
Yellow: progress in the colonist column. To move her marker to the next row, she must give up 1 ginger, 1 clove, and 2 ships: put in the supply, then move marker.
Red: progress in the taxes column (done as described before). In addition, he plays an expedition card. He takes 2 ships and discards the expedition card.
Green: progress in the ship column. To move his marker to the next row, he must give up 1 ginger, 1 cinnamon, and 2 ships. He also plays an expedition card that allows him to progress by only spending ships, but no spices: put in the supply, then move marker.
Now all players have taken their 3 actions. Blue has 1 additional action card, but she does not use it now (she can hold 1 additional action card).
The round is over. The next round begins with the placement of auction markers. Blue has the flag. She starts and places the flag with her number 1 auction marker on the board ...
For many test rounds, suggestions, and comments, the author and publisher thank Rudolf Dorn, Sandra Freudenreich, Ursula and Siegfried Hildebrand, Holger Klein, Rüdiger Langtim, Bernd Lautenschlager, André Maack, Marcel Casasola Merkle, Ines Rutschmann, Volker Weitzel, Alex Weiß, Hannes Wildner, Clemens Winter, Anja, Schorsch, the test players from the club "Ali Baba"/Nürnberg and the "Projekt Sieben" meetings. The author especially thanks his wife Maja, Karl-Heinz Schmiel, and Dieter Hornung for their tireless input to get the best from the game.
© 2004 Hans im Glück Verlags-GmbH. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please write us at: [email protected] or PO Box 45715, Rio Rancho, NM 87174, USA. For more information about our company and games, please visit: www.riograndegames.com